Lou Rawls

Music is the greatest communication in the world.

I don’t pop my cork for every man I see.

One minute we’re over here, the next minute we’re doing something completely different. But it’s interesting because you are producing so many things you couldn’t do with analog.

People don’t want to suffer. They want to sound good immediately and this is one of the biggest problems.

Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.

You can’t copy anybody and end up with anything. If you copy, you’re working without any real feeling.

The people who know nothing about music are the ones always talking about it.

Jazz fans love Miles and I love him for a myriad of reasons, but the overviews are always too simplistic.

Musicians need to continue higher learning try to expand the pallet.

Sometimes there are no gigs, but the main thing is still the music.

You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.

I don’t do something because I think it’ll sell 30 million albums. I couldn’t care less if it sells just one.

No, working is what will keep you alive.

You’ve got to be willing to put stuff on the line, otherwise it doesn’t have much meaning.

I like the interplay in the music.

In fact, I heard Bird first, and had got well into listening to him. You know, it’s the kind of accidental thing that awareness of a player is: what’s available, what somebody happens to play for you.